Cheverly council adopts travel‑and‑training allocation and an employee‑auction policy

At the Oct. 10 meeting the council adopted two policies intended to clarify spending and staff morale measures.

Council Member Bridal presented a near‑final draft of the mayor and council travel and training policy, including a preapproved list of conferences and two proposed allocation splits for the budget line that pays conference travel. The question was whether the mayor should receive 25% or 34% of the travel line, leaving the council a smaller or larger share accordingly. Council Member Watson moved to adopt allocation option 1 (mayor 25%, council 12.5%); after discussion the motion passed with five ayes and one abstention, and the council adopted the policy using allocation number 1.

Council then considered a short "employee auctions" policy. That two‑page draft would allow town employees a first opportunity to bid on surplus equipment or vehicles before the items are offered to the public through the govdeals auction platform. The mayor expressed support for morale benefits while cautioning about perceptions of impropriety; staff and council members said the policy had been developed with employees and the auction vendor. Council moved to adopt the policy as written and approved it by voice vote with no opposition recorded.

Both policies will be memorialized in the town’s policy documents and presented in the work session and minutes. The travel policy includes a mechanism to revisit percentage allocations during budget season if council wants to alter the dollar amounts in future fiscal cycles.